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Molly Ivins, 1944-2007

"So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."

Please help

Have you noticed how difficult it is to get “real” information
from the broadcast media regarding the upcoming presidential
elections in the USA? Everything is slanted, and much of it is
outright lies.

This is bad enough while trying to choose the Republican
nominee, but it will be even more problematic when the election
process is in full swing.

It's time (actually it's past time) to put broadcasters on notice:

"The Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision has launched a new
era of big-money politics. The wealthiest 1 percent now have
unchecked power to pick and choose our nation’s leaders. And
they’re doing it by spending tens of millions of dollars on
televised political ads that leave voters awash in
misinformation.

So where’s the broadcast media in all of this? Instead of
exposing this runaway spending and separating fact from fiction
in an election year, they’re lining their pockets with the
winnings — to the tune of more than $3 billion dollars in 2012
ad buys."

Put the largest TV conglomerates on notice. Demand that
broadcasters expose the money trail and cover election-year
issues properly!

Internet Explorer (IE) full of security holes – always has been.
There's no need to even discuss it. Don't use it.

Firefox started off great. But, over time, it got heavy and
slow. It seems every upgrade made it more difficult to use.
Lately, it's gotten a little better. But if, like me, you're a
serious internet user – and don't have time to fool around with
it - it simply has too many toys.

Chrome is fast. It's also the most secure. They actually have
“hacker competitions” and Chrome is the only browser that leaves
those competitions untouched. Unfortunately (for those who care)
it's made by Google.

Which brings us to the newest online uproar – Google's new
privacy settings. Google is consolidating all their various
privacy settings to one setting that will work across all their
platforms.

In my opinion, it's much ado about nothing.

It all comes down to Google's tracking policies. So, I'd like to
point out – there's nothing new about that! Google has been
tracking us all for years! Nothing new there.

You may feel it makes you more vulnerable to having hackers –
or, if you're really paranoid, the government – get your
information. Well, as I said, Google has tracked us for years
and their security has been excellent.

So you want to avoid being tracked? Really not a big deal. Just
don't sign in to Google. When you're logged out, your activity
won't be associated with your user account.

I never sign in unless I'm actually working with Webmaster Tools
or need to use Gmail. Google isn't doing this because they give
a pig's wazoo what you're doing online.

They do it to make more money! They do it to attract more
targeted advertising. The better they can target, the more they
can charge their advertisers!

If you're concerned about what Google knows about you, just go
over to Google's Dashboard and sign in. The
dashboard gives you an overview of all your activity through
Google.

It also provides links to adjust your settings, privacy and
security for every Google service. When the new privacy policy
takes effect, this page will be even simpler to use.

Have you wondered what in the world is going on with all the Christmas shopping, this year? We have the worst unemployment record we've had in 80 years, inflation is ridiculous, people are losing their homes every day, the food banks are having trouble keeping up with demand, and yet ...

Black Friday brick and mortar sales were up $1 Billion over 2010. Sales were the largest amount ever spent on that day.

I understand that austerity measures get pretty damn old, after a while, and folks tend to break out. But, that doesn't explain the insane amounts of money being spent. Sure, the sale items are good - but, not that good.

It's good news for online business owners, but in no way does this mean the economy, overall, is getting better. You can't have 14 million folks out of work (and, those are just the ones still collecting unemployment benefits) and have any kind of economic recovery!

Millions more have outlived their benefits, and many have stopped looking for jobs that aren't there. Millions more have had their hours cut and/or their wages lowered.

So, where are these billions of dollars being spent coming from? Credit cards? How are all these folks still making their credit card payments?

Do people think this will stimulate the economy? Well, not if those credit cards aren't paid! And, even if they are, the money will just go to the top CEOs.

We didn't have this kind of spending back in the '90s when the economy was booming. Something is afoot here - and I don't know what it is! I don't have a clue!

I did wonder if millions of people are thinking this may very well be the last Christmas there's any chance of celebrating. Have that many folks bought into the "world will end on 12/21/12" claims? Really?